Sherdog Prospect Watch: Ulysses Gomez

When it comes to mixed martial arts, the 125-pound weight class has
only started to catch on in North America, but for Ulysses
Gomez, the division has always been his home.

Gomez -- who trains at Marc Laimon’s Cobra Kai and Ken Hahn’s
Striking Unlimited in Las Vegas -- has been a flyweight his entire
professional career, which dates back to March 2008. The
27-year-old has no intentions of a permanent change in weight
anytime soon, either.

“I always tell people [the] only way I’ll move up from 125 is to
clean out the division, I run into somebody I just can’t beat or I
grow out of it,” says Gomez, who has recorded five submissions in
his six victories. “To be honest, it will probably be me growing
out of it more than anything. Until I feel like I can’t wait any
longer, or making the cut to 125 severely affects my performance, I
want to keep making 125.”

Gomez, the Tachi Palace Fights flyweight champion, is scheduled to
compete in the upcoming Bellator Fighting Championships 135-pound
tournament and will face Travis
Reddinger in the opening round on Sept. 2 in San Antonio. He
says preparing for the tournament will not be any different than
getting ready for any other fight and believes Bellator’s
tournament schedule of three fights in three months actually will
help him in his quest to stay at 125 pounds.

“I signed to be in the tournament back in May and didn’t start
picking up my training until Bellator told me when my first fight
would be,” Gomes says. “I get pretty big between fights. I actually
walk around in the 150s, and I cut down to 125. I struggle a lot to
make 125, but, with the tournament being at 135, I’ll have to
struggle less with the cut.

“I kind of look at this as a better chance for me to make 125 and
stay there for a while,” he adds. “When I’m in the Bellator
tournament, I have to make 135 each month for three months, so it’s
going to make it easier for me to get down to 125. It gets a little
tough sometimes, and I don’t recommend it for everybody. It’s
affected my performance in some of my previous fights.”

Gomez’s last appearance came on May 5, when he posted a five-round
unanimous decision victory over Luis
Gonzalez and won the TPF flyweight title in Lemoore, Calif. In
that fight, Gomez landed several uppercuts in the first round that
had Gonzalez on his bicycle, but he could not seal the deal. After
the verdict was announced in Gomez’s favor, the crowd booed the
decision, but Gomez feels like he was the clear-cut winner.

“I think the reason why the decision wasn’t popular was that
[Gonzalez] is from that area,” he says. “Two of the judges had it
four [rounds] to one for me, and the other had it three [rounds] to
two for me. I felt OK with my performance, but I did struggle some
to make weight. I was a bit dehydrated, but that’s my own
fault.”

Conditioning and striking are at the top of Gomez’s list of facets
on which he wants to improve as his career evolves.

“As far as my strong points, my record doesn’t lie,” he says.
“Submissions are my strong point. My weaknesses right now might be
making everything as strong as possible. I need to work on
tightening up my wrestling and striking and getting my cardio up
there.”

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt has won four straight fights
since dropping a unanimous decision to Rambaa “M-16” Somdet in just
his third professional appearance. Somdet, Shooto’s 115-pound
champion, has won seven consecutive bouts and is considered by many
to be one of the top fighters in the world under 125 pounds.

“I didn’t realize the magnitude of how good [Somdet] was when I
fought him,” Gomez says, recalling their November 2008 encounter.
“That was a fight that maybe I shouldn’t have taken at that point
in time. I had made a steady progression in my first two fights,
and he was world-ranked. I’m not sure I should’ve fought him when I
did, but he beat me fair and square.

“He dropped me like three or four times in the first round, and I
vaguely remember that first round,” he adds. “I’ve trained with
world champs and a lot of tough guys in training and not been
knocked down, but this guy dropped me. What I learned more than
anything from that fight was that even though I didn’t win, I was
still able to finish the fight. I didn’t mentally check out. If
he’d stopped me in the first round, I’d have been embarrassed, but
I lost a decision, so it wasn’t so bad."

Gomez also holds the honor of being the first American to win a
gold medal at the FILA Pankration World Championships. He won the
2007 competition in Antalya, Turkey, and described the trip as
“cool all the way through.”

“Being able to represent the U.S. was awesome,” Gomez says. “When I
started, did I ever think I’d get the chance to go to Turkey? Never
in my wildest dreams.”

With a Bellator fight scheduled for September, possible Bellator
dates in October and November and a TPF title defense in the works
for December, Gomez could be busy for the rest of 2010. He likes it
that way.

“I’ve fought three times a year so far, and that’s my goal,” he
says. “I’d like to stay busy, but it can be hard to find balance in
there between training and fighting.”